Ms Helen Hall:

The important thing in respect of the work of the Policing Authority, as I see it, is that the oversight of those performance targets happens in public. It is important that the plan is published.

Then members of the public can see the Commissioner being questioned on the performance, challenges and targets. Anybody who is accountable for performance will know that one may not always get 100% green, but the conversation about what went wrong and having that conversation in public is also important.

As Ms Tumelty mentioned, we do this every year so we learn. For example, if we say we did not do something for a particular reason, we are going to be asked again and there would be a different target, so if that did not work, we could refine that. I would say it is very much a co-creation, and that is important, because the work the Garda does is extremely challenging and difficult. It is about making sure what is signed up to by the Commissioner - it is his public commitment to all of us as to what he is going to do in a year - is agreed as being appropriate. That does happen, there would be a little bit of a discussion on it, and even the fact that discussion happens in public is important.